Should EU public procurement law integrate sustainability due diligence requirements?

Abstract

Globally, expectations on businesses to manage human rights and other sustainability risks are becoming increasingly ‘more detailed, demanding and widespread’ (Methven O'Brien & Martin-Ortega, 2019c). Since 2011, taking point of departure in the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights (UN Human Rights Council, 2011) and related ‘responsible business conduct’ standards (OECD, 2011, 2018, 2023), the European Union (EU) and other policy actors have contributed to this trend by adopting a range of instruments encouraging businesses to implement sustainability ‘due diligence’ to give effect to their ‘corporate responsibility to respect’ human rights (EC, 2011b; Council of Europe, 2016; Methven O'Brien, 2021; Methven O'Brien & Botta, 2023; Methven O'Brien & Caranta, 2024). Due diligence processes, so understood, entail that businesses should identify, assess, prevent, cease, or mitigate and remediate harms to human rights and the environment resulting from their own activities or to which they are directly linked via business partners. The scope of corporate human rights due diligence, correspondingly, extends to procurement activities